Egypt Set to Launch Sugar Trading on Commodities Exchange

The sturgeon supermoon rises over an area in Cairo on August 1, 2023. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
The sturgeon supermoon rises over an area in Cairo on August 1, 2023. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
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Egypt Set to Launch Sugar Trading on Commodities Exchange

The sturgeon supermoon rises over an area in Cairo on August 1, 2023. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
The sturgeon supermoon rises over an area in Cairo on August 1, 2023. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Egypt's commodities exchange on Wednesday invited companies to register to trade sugar on the bourse, which already offers yellow corn and wheat.

Sugar will be offered on the exchange starting Thursday, exchange head Ibrahim Ashmawy said in a statement, adding that the move was in line with a government mandate "to regulate the markets of strategic and basic commodities".

Egypt has said it has strategic reserves of sugar to cover consumption until the spring of 2024.

It has tendered to import raw sugar through the Egyptian Sugar and Integrated Industries Company (ESIIC), which most recently is believed to have purchased around 50,000 metric tons of raw sugar in an international tender which closed on Aug. 5.



China to Focus on Stabilizing Housing Market in 2025, Housing Regulator Says

 A cleaner carrying a broom and a trash bin walks along a street in Beijing on December 24, 2024. (AFP)
A cleaner carrying a broom and a trash bin walks along a street in Beijing on December 24, 2024. (AFP)
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China to Focus on Stabilizing Housing Market in 2025, Housing Regulator Says

 A cleaner carrying a broom and a trash bin walks along a street in Beijing on December 24, 2024. (AFP)
A cleaner carrying a broom and a trash bin walks along a street in Beijing on December 24, 2024. (AFP)

Efforts will continue in 2025 to stabilize and prevent further declines in China's real estate market, China Construction News reported, citing a work conference held by the housing regulator on Tuesday and Wednesday.

China will vigorously promote the reform of the commercial housing sales system, and expand the scope of urban village renovation beyond the addition of 1 million units, the report said.

China will strictly control the supply of commercial housing, while increasing the supply of affordable housing to help solve the living problems of a large number of new citizens, young people and migrant workers, it said.

Policymakers have stepped up efforts to revive the real estate by introducing new measures to encourage home demand after a government-led campaign to rein in highly leveraged developers triggered a crisis in 2021.

Since September, measures aimed at encouraging homebuying have included cutting mortgage rates and minimum down-payments, as well as tax incentives to lower the cost of housing transactions.

The real estate market has shown some momentum of stabilizing, with home transactions in October and November seeing year-on-year and month-on-month growth for two consecutive months, said the conference.

China's home prices fell at the slowest pace in 17 months in November, supported by government efforts to revive the sector, official data showed.

An official of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission in December called for policy measures with direct impact on stabilizing the real estate market to be adopted as soon as possible, with local governments getting greater autonomy to buy housing stock.